Saturday, May 2, 2009

Check out BigSunday.org and lend a hand on a local project of your choosing. Or participate as a customer: you can shop at a flea market, get your nails done or buy a glass of lemonade at a volunteer-operated booth. Your money goes to a good cause.

Friday, May 1, 2009

I've noticed this shadow many times, but hadn't thought of it for theme day until I drove by a couple of days ago. I like how the brick has faded, showing traces of what used to be.

The sign on the door directs you down the street to the main building of Villa Esperanza Services, a school, adult day care facility, support group and endless resource for people with developmental disabilities and their families. The facility takes up more than a city block along Villa street just west of Craig. I found the website inspiring. Take a look.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Meet Ernesto and H.D., from Perry C. Thomas Construction in Monrovia. Their company was contracted by the City of Pasadena to do some electrical improvements, and yesterday they were digging up the corner of Hudson and Claremont.

If folks are going to dig in your neighborhood you want them to be nice about it, as these guys were. I was proud of myself, too. I'm usually nervous to ask people for pictures, but I marched right up and asked, and they said yes. (Thanks, guys.) They had a cohort who opted out, though. Probably didn't want to be referred to as a ground-burrowing critter, handsome or no.

I didn't stay long enough to watch what they did. I don't know if they only made these smallish holes or if they had to crawl around in deep, underground tunnels. I only know that when I got home, everything was working and I didn't have to worry about it. That's what you hire the experts for.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

With my little camera, I couldn't get the angle I wanted on this building without standing in the street, so we're going to have to miss out on a bit of the lower part. If it was a quiet, out-of-the-way street I'd stand in the middle, sure. But it's Altadena Drive, just north of Colorado Blvd., and not everyone who drives along there is paying attention.

For at least a year, I drove by this building over and over again without noticing it. Now that I know it's there it plagues me. (See? There's one non-attention-paying driver right there.) The building looks abandoned, and it's so beautiful.

I messed with the contrast and sharpening so you can read the lettering at the top: "MUNICIPAL LIGHT AND POWER." I'm sure the place is owned by Pasadena Water and Power; behind it is a full block of electrical grid. But the building itself looks empty.

I'd go peek in the windows but there's an iron fence around the lot. It wouldn't stop some people but I was brought up to be scared of breaking the rules, which is another reason I don't stand in the middle of busy streets.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

I was taking my regular route back from the grocery store. But instead of passing that corner I always pass, I followed my impulse and turned, onto - not just a street, but a treasure trove of sights I'd never seen before.

Isn't it weird how the littlest thing can make your day? (Okay, maybe the littlest thing makes MY weird day.) But I love how a new route can be a surprise. Sometimes I like to get out of town and follow my nose, explore, go where the road takes me. But I can't always do that, so it's nice to know I can explore locally: take a new route, try a new restaurant, shop in a place with an unpronounceable name. There's always a discovery to be made.

When I've got more time I'm going to go back to my new favorite street and take more photos. Talk about unsticking my head.